Cambodia, China sign new MoU on money laundering.
Tue, 6 September 2016
 |
| he National Bank of Cambodia (pictured) last Tuesday announced the signing of an MoU with China on money laundering. Vireak Mai |
Cambodia and China last week signed an agreement to exchange financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, though experts said the Kingdom should still be doing more to tackle an issue that has long persisted in the country, in part, due to local corruption.
Cambodia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and China’s Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Center last Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate to fight the problem, according to an announcement from the National Bank of Cambodia. Both parties “plan to strengthen cooperation focusing on training, capacity-building and technical assistance”, the announcement stated.
Cambodia has perennially earned low marks on its preparedness to combat money laundering. Last month, the Kingdom was ranked as the highest-risk nation in ASEAN, and sixth-highest risk globally, for its vulnerability to money laundering and terrorism financing, according to an annual report by the Switzerland-based Basel Institute on Governance.
And despite the longevity of the problem, experts said the government had seemingly exhibited a lack of will in taking tough steps against laundering.
Gemma Aiolfi, head of compliance and corporate governance at the Basel Institute, said that while it appeared that the country had made legislative and institutional improvements “prosecutions and convictions are lacking”.
No comments:
Post a Comment